Numinous 7: Dies Irae
by Scyllaya
Summary: Sequel to Mala Fide. Despite how things seem Sam still can't believe that Gabriel has no ill intentions, so he gets Dean to split up while he heads over to Bobby's to figure out the truth. PG-13, Dean/Gabriel, slash


**Title: **Dies Irae  
**Author: scyllaya**  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Characters and/or Pairing:** Dean/Gabriel, brief mention of Sam/OFC, Bobby, Rufus  
**Spoilers:** Up to 6.11, goes AU from there.  
**Warnings:** cursing, some mentions of violence, some brief mention of slash and het

**Word Count**: ~ 8 200  
**Summary:** Sequel to **Mala Fide**. Despite how things seem Sam still can't believe that Gabriel has no ill intentions, so he gets Dean to split up while he heads over to Bobby's to figure out the truth.  
**Disclaimer: **All names and characters in this story belong to CW/WB and Kripke. I'm making no profit whatsoever. It's just for fun! Don't sue me! =D  
**AN:** This is the seventh story of my "Numinous verse".

Un-betad, sorry for that. Ignore my mistakes please!

First Story: Numinous

xxx

Part One

Sam thought that it was safe to say that he had one of his worst mornings in quite a while, that following a really horrible night. He was struggling with a massive hangover and the coffee he tried to drown was not helping his condition one bit. And when Dean waltzed into the diner being all chipper and conspicuously not being sick or even a bit tired Sam decided that the world obviously hated him.

Two days ago he woke up in a motel room with Dean and Castiel sitting at the table. After the angel made sure he was okay he flew off to wherever he had business to do. And Sam had no idea what was going on. His last memory was riding in the Impala. When Dean told him what happened, vaguely of course, Sam paled and was horrified, when he reached the part where it was Gabriel fixing whatever damage there was on that wall or whatever he became pissed. The first thing out of his mouth was the question of how Dean could let the archangel just mess around in his head and Dean's face darkened into such fury the next second that Sam shut his mouth immediately.

'If it wasn't for Gabriel, right now you would be a screaming, drooling mess on the floor, so how about you stop bitching about who helped you and show some fucking gratitude instead?' his voice was almost just a growl, his face was hard. Sam didn't actually dare to interrupt what his brother had to say at that moment. 'I'm really fed up with your whining and complaining at this point, so listen up. Gabriel stays, no matter what and you will deal with it like a fucking adult!'

So Sam did what he always did when it looked like Dean was ready to tear him a new one and it felt like he was maybe a bit justified to do so, he kept his mouth shut and nodded. And he did his best, he really did, but he was reaching his limit after two days, especially after the previous night.

'Heya Sammy!' Dean greeted him cheerfully as he sat down to the table; Sam just growled at him for being too loud and went back to sipping his coffee. He had the urge to throw up when he heard Dean order toast, eggs and bacon, but he snapped his attention when Dean asked fro salad on the side.

'Since when do you eat stuff like that?' he asked. Dean just looked at him like he was the weird one.

'Dude, I've been eating my breakfast with that crap since months now and you just noticed?' he asked incredulously. 'Way to be observant.'

'Really?' Sam asked in disbelief, because he definitely would've noticed something like that. Dean rolled his eyes.

'Fruit stuff to pancakes and waffles and green stuff with… everything else.'

'Who are you and what did you do to my brother?' Sam asked.

'Very funny' Dean deadpanned, but again rolled his eyes when Sam just kept looking at him. 'It's… it was Lisa's nonsense, okay? I got used to it; it's good… like burgers are good with that stuff too… not a word.' He warned and he turned to his coffee as he got it.

Sam wanted to huff out a laugh, but it made him wince. His head was killing him. Dean of course noticed Sam's misery and grinned, the bastard. Dean should've been much worse, he drank way more than Sam, but then again he had an archangel to make his life easier. And that exactly was why Sam saw the previous night as one of the worst he had in a long time. Not because of the booze, but because of one stupid archangel, who had a stupid grin on his stupid face the entire night, and yes Sam's lack of sleep and bad hangover might be the cause of while his vocabulary was temporarily reduced.

Dean dragged him out of the motel room the night before, because they had cash… a lot and Sam admitted that he was surprised by his brother sometimes, but when he walked back in to their motel room with a wad of cash he was beyond surprised, and concerned by where it came from. Dean said he was lucky; Sam was dubious until Dean tossed him the certificate that confirmed that the money was won by a freakin' scratch off lottery ticket. For Sam this was beyond suspicious, because the last time they had winning tickets it was because of a cursed rabbit's foot. But Dean shrugged it off by saying that it was damn time he got lucky once in his life. He was in the type of mood that Sam knew it would be impossible to talk him out of his plans.

And really Sam would've been more than okay with a night out if it would've been just him and Dean, it was of course too much to ask for.

The waitress arrived with Dean's food and Sam was sick just looking at it, but Dean dug in with vehemence, like he didn't eat for days. And Sam was just way too painfully aware that after what type of nights his brother was annoyingly cheerful and really hungry. He suppressed a groan and asked the waitress to refill his cup with more coffee. Dean was smiling at her telling her that the food was really amazing and the almost flirty behavior made Sam remember of the previous night again.

Gabriel showed up and Sam did his best not to glare at him constantly, even if he was irritating him from the first second when he casually dropped himself down next to Dean, arms stretched at the back of the bench – also behind Dean – with casual self-confidence, looking like he owned the place. Dean just turned to him with a smile and either was used to Gabriel appearing randomly or he knew that he would come, both were possible and Sam didn't know which possibility bothered him more. Still, he asked to behave, so he did. He was quietly drowning his beer and knew that he would need something stronger if he had to endure the archangel for a while.

The fact that Dean was openly flirting with the waitress even with Gabriel right next to him struck Sam as odd, but he was not commenting on such things, later when he saw Gabriel openly flirting with one of the female bartenders seemed less odd, but Dean's lack of reaction confused him. Because it was one thing that he didn't approve of anything going on between his brother and Gabriel, it was another thing that he was sure that the archangel would sooner or later make Dean miserable, but this was strange. He asked Dean why Gabriel was hitting on the chick; Dean frowned, glanced at the angel at the bar then just laughed saying he wouldn't be able to resist to give the girl a smile or two.

It still struck Sam as odd, but he didn't ask more. It was clearly something that only made sense to Dean. Sam fled the table for a while when Dean's look lingered and Sam wasn't sure whether he was ogling the bartender or Gabriel, probably both. When he got back from the bathroom he saw a bottle of tequila on their table and Dean just drowned a shot and bit into the lemon in Gabriel's hand. Sam turned to the bar and ordered a whiskey so quickly that he didn't even have time to think it through.

Sam found it concerning that Dean didn't care about such obvious PDA in a crowded bar, and okay they were in the more liberal part of the country and Sam was pretty sure he saw two guys flirting and kissing at some point at another part of the bar, but still. It was so unlike Dean not to give a damn. And for hours it was really subtle. Gabriel sitting closer than two guys normally would, Dean was sitting a bit side-ways on the bench turned towards Gabriel. A look here a too long touch there, Dean almost drooling while his eyes followed as Gabriel walked up to the bar… the last one was not actually that subtle.

But as the alcohol kept coming the less subtle the whole thing was and Sam really wanted to just close his eyes and bleach his brain. He quickly drowned his shot of whiskey and dared to look back towards the table. It was a really bad idea, because Gabriel was completely in his brother's personal space at this point emptying a shot glass himself and Sam quickly turned away as Dean had piece of lemon between his teeth and he did not want to see that. He groaned as he did catch it as Gabriel was leaning in even closer to Dean so he ordered another whiskey, hoping that the picture would simply dissolve in alcohol.

'One of them your ex-boyfriend or something?' asked the hot bartender Gabriel was flirting with earlier, while she was looking towards the table. Sam was pretty sure that he heard someone catcalling so he had a very good idea about what was going on behind his back.

'The one in the black tee is my brother' Sam answered and asked for another shot. The bartender shot him a sympathetic look and refilled his glass.

'Well he seems to be having really good time, you should too' she said as Sam drowned another shot.

On the top side, he did manage to dissolve most images from his mind by alcohol, but unfortunately not all of them, he had a killer headache, no appetite and he was almost 70% sure that he got a blowjob from the hot bartender in the storage room. One could argue whether that actually belonged to the good parts of the night. He also vaguely remembered that Dean almost got into a fight at one point, but he wasn't sure.

'Did you punch someone last night?' he asked finally. Dean looked up from his mostly finished breakfast with a thoughtful expression on his face, and then it seemed like he was able to remember.

'Yeah' he chuckled. 'That one asshole that got a bit handsy at the bar, the dick' Dean said as he shook his head. 'He got away with it pretty easy though, I mean I just punched him in the face' he seemingly contemplated something. 'Maybe I should've let Gabriel have his way with him. That would've thought him good.'

Sam looked at his brother in a rather concerned way, or maybe it was closer to "horrified".

'Dude, relax. Nothing deadly… but c'mon freakin' bastards like that, it would've totally served him right to… I don't know get probed by aliens… that's a classic' He grinned and chuckled before he returned to his breakfast.

Sam just shook his head. He was way too tired and sick to start arguing about how much that was a morally shaky ground. He just leaned back on the seat and took out his phone, checking for any new phone-numbers in it. But then he frowned as he checked other things.

'All my texts are deleted' he announced. 'And my caller history.'

'So?' Dean asked.

'I didn't delete it' Sam told him.

'Maybe you did, last night… or earlier maybe? You lost a lot of hours the other day.'

'I never delete my texts and calls' Sam told him.

'Maybe you did this time, who cares?' Sam didn't answer he just kept frowning down on his phone, trying to figure out what reason he could have had to do it. And suddenly he remembered Bobby, maybe he talked with him? Maybe he didn't want Dean to see something? That seemed plausible, considering that he asked Bobby to do research about things regarding Gabriel.

'Gotta make a call' he said as he stood up, Dean just continued his breakfast after nodding. Sam went out to the street and dialed Bobby`s number.

'Yes?' the hunter answered.

'Hey, it's me' Sam greeted. 'Just checking in, did you find anything yet?' he asked.

'Well, I asked around and checked a lot of things son, but we got nothing.'

'Nothing?' Sam asked incredulously.

'Bupkis yeah' Bobby confirmed. 'Checked the three cases and everything else I could think of in the area, but nothing out of the ordinary.'

'What about the triangle? And the 3 victims per town?' Sam asked.

'I looked at the police records again Sam. The women were definitely killed by a human. Abused and strangled no sign of any supernatural there.'

'You say it's a coincidence then?' Sam asked.

'I think you want to see something when there is nothing to see.'

'You can't be serious Bobby' Sam told him.

'I tell you what I know Sam, we're just clutching at straws. Maybe it's time to accept that Gabriel has nothing sinister in store.'

Sam took a deep calming breath.

'There is something going on, I can feel it' Sam said.

'Or maybe it just disturbs you how your brother feels about him' the older hunter told him.

'Maybe it does, okay? But you wanna know why? Because no matter what when things turn bad it's gonna be us picking up the pieces, and they will turn bad, believe me.'

'You've been wrong before' Bobby told him.

'Yeah well, we'll see. Just call me if you do notice anything going on in that area.'

'Sure thing.'

'And hey Bobby, did you call me earlier about this?'

'No, since I didn't find anything. Why?'

'Nothing' Sam answered. 'Talk to you later.'

'Later.'

Sam ended the call and stared at his phone for a few seconds. His head was still killing him, but now he had other things rushing in his mind.

xxx

Dean just finished his breakfast was about to order more coffee when Sam came back to the diner.

'Hey, listen' Sam said as he sat down. He still looked like shit and that made Dean even more grateful about Gabriel being willing to abuse his powers to cancel the annoying parts of life. 'I just got off the phone with Bobby, there might be a possible case worth checking out.'

'Awesome, I'm game. Can't wait to kill something again' Dean replied.

'I thought maybe I could go ahead'

'What? Why?' Dean frowned. It was not like Sam wanting to get separated and especially not for a job, not when they had nothing else to do.

'Ok, look. I'm gonna be honest with you man. I need a break' Sam said, but that just made Dean frown even more, so the younger Winchester continued. 'I mean… you obviously want to spend time with Gabriel and you've been telling me to deal with this since the beginning, so this is me dealing with it. I'm doing it Dean, but I really need a little space after the last two days, especially after last night, because I'm at my limit.'

Dean started to feel bad for his brother, because while he had an awesome time, he definitely could've toned it down with Gabriel a little bit. But he was in a good mood and Gabriel was there and Sam was not bitching at the archangel, it was easy to just lean back, laugh and have a good time, it was so rare that he could do that.

'So, I go ahead and you can catch up with me later. Two days tops, it should give me enough time to stop having urges to fry an archangel in holy oil. We both win.'

Dean was contemplating Sam's words. He was still not thrilled about the idea, but at least Sam was finally trying and that was more than he did up until that point, so Dean thought that he should just give him his breathing space if he really needed it. He really didn't want to push his luck, things were looking up and he didn't want to screw things up. Plus Sam was right, without his little brother around he could coax Gabriel into staying with him more probably.

'Okay, you got it' he nodded after a few moments. 'You want some Gabriel-free space I'm gonna supply and meet you up later.' It was a much better solution than Sam asking him not to meet the archangel for a few days, because that would've sucked.

'I'm gonna call you later, when I did some re-search about the case then.' Sam said and Dean nodded. His little brother was soon out of the door and it never felt hundred percent right, when he couldn't keep an eye on him, but still. Sammy was finally trying so he felt good about it. He looked around in the diner and when he saw that everyone was out of earshot he spoke.

'Gabriel… drop by when you can, we have Sammy-free zone for two days' then he went back to his coffee. He only had a few sips, when the diner door jingled and Gabriel sat down in front of him a few seconds later with a questioning look on his face.

'What happened?' he asked.

'I think last night was too much for him' Dean chuckled. 'He went ahead to work on a case, asked me to meet up with him later.'

'And why does that put you in such a good mood that I could feel it three states over?' the archangel asked.

'Well, y'know… he's making progress here' Dean explained. 'He is at least trying to deal with all this finally. That's a good thing.'

'I suppose' Gabriel shrugged. 'You know him better. And hey, lucky me.'

'And lucky me' Dean replied. 'Because seriously, I feel like everything is just falling in my lap nowadays. I didn't have to pay for gas the other day because I was the ten thousandth customer or what the hell, we got totally awesome motel-rooms lately and then I found that winning ticket yesterday, I mean wow' he chuckled, because if he didn't know better he would say that it was something supernatural at work. And then Gabriel started laughing.

'What?' Dean asked.

'I think that you have a trickster in your shoulder' he grinned.

'What, you mean you're doing this?' Dean asked in confusion.

'Nope, If I did I would've told you already' Gabriel said. 'But not that long ago you met someone who's M.O. is exactly this, giving bad luck to bastards, good fortune to the good guys.' He didn't continue, obviously waiting for Dean to get it.

'The traveler?' he asked a moment later. 'He put good luck on me?'

'It would appear so.'

'But… in exchange for what?' the hunter asked.

'In exchange for nothing' Gabriel told him in an obviously placating tone. 'It's his thing, he doesn't just punish bad guys like most tricksters, but he rewards the righteous as well. That's Urdung's way of staying neutral in the grand scale of things.'

'So what… I'm gonna be lucky for the rest of my life?' he asked in a disbelieving tone, because he never heard of supernatural beings doing things like that without asking for anything in return.

'I'd say yes' Gabriel answered. 'C'mon you met him, I think he liked you, he's my friend and it's not actually difficult or in any way demanding for him to do it or anything.'

'Huh' Dean thought about for another second. 'Well tell him thanks the next time you see him' he told Gabriel.

'Will do' smiled Gabriel. 'Now let's get going, we have a long day ahead of us.'

xxx

Part Two

Sam headed straight to South Dakota and he hoped that if he and Bobby put their heads together two days will be enough to figure out whether there was really nothing going on, and even if they couldn't after two days he would leave it alone. He would call Dean and tell him that the hunt was a bust and then he would meet up with him and deal with fucking Gabriel being in their lives. Just two more days, he swore to himself.

His gut was telling him that something was going on and he hoped that he could take a good look on the research Bobby did and maybe notice something the older hunter didn't. Two set of eyes were always better than one.

After ten hours of driving he was in Bobby's Salvage Yard, he didn't really stop for anything and he might've been tired, but he didn't want to waste any time, so he came as fast as he could without being pulled over by the cops.

Bobby opened the door and he seemed surprised to see the younger Winchester.

'What are you doing here Sam?' the old hunter asked. 'Where's Dean?' came the next question.

'We split up, I came to look through your research' Sam told him. 'And before you say anything, if I also can't find anything I will leave it alone once and for all, okay?' he finished. Bobby stepped away from the door to let him in.

'Well, actually it might be good that you're here after all' he said as Sam followed him inside. 'I've been working on another case, and I have something you might want to take a look at.'

'What?' Sam asked as he put his bag down.

'It's easier if I show you first.' Bobby said and he started to head down to the basement. Sam followed him closely behind. The hunter didn't stop until they arrived at the Panic Room. 'See for yourself' Bobby said again and then he opened the door.

Sam stepped through the entrance.

'Sam, no!' he heard Bobby's voice, but it came from a different direction. He swiftly turned right towards the voice and at the same time, he felt a heavy push on his back. He barely managed to keep his balance, but by the time he did manage to stand securely on his feet the Panic Room door slammed shut. Sam looked up to see Bobby inside with him.

'What?' he asked in confusion.

'Ya idjit' Bobby cursed, and it finally drawn in on Sam what just happened.

'That wasn't you' he concluded.

'Jeez, ya think?' Bobby replied as he sat back down onto the bed he probably was sitting on up until this point.

'What was it? Shifter?' Sam asked then.

'No, but I'm damned if I know what it really is. I shot it and it didn't even flinch, silver, salt, stake, holy water… nothing works' the older hunter said. Sam ran a hand through his hair.

'And what does it want?' Sam asked.

'You mean it's not that obvious?' Bobby asked. 'It's Gabriel's guard dog, whatever the hell it is.'

'Oh, fuck!' Sam cursed. 'I knew it! I just fucking knew it!' he had the urge to hit something, to break something. He was right all along, there was something going on and Dean… shit.

'And then some' Bobby told him. 'Something big actually, and it's not just the three towns you noticed, but the bastard popped in the second I tried to call you.'

'How?' Sam asked in disbelief. 'Archangels are powerful, but even they don't know everything.'

'Yeah well the other angels don't really snitch away cell phones or break into e-mail boxes' Bobby said. 'Lucky for us, this one's been among humans for so long that he knows all the ins and outs.'

'Yeah, lucky' Sam grumbled and was looking around in the room for any possible escape-route.

'Don't sweat it' Bobby told him. 'I made this place and even I couldn't find any way out in the last few days since I got my ass dumped here.'

'Ok, then just tell me what you managed to figure out for now' Sam said, as he walked closer. He had to know what was going on and they could figure out a way to get out after that.

Bobby just started to open his mouth to start explaining when the heavy metal door clicked and opened again. Sam tensed immediately, but when Gabriel stepped in he saw red. It took a considerable amount of self-restrain to stay in one place as he knew that there was nothing he could've possible done against the archangel, especially not in a one-on-one fight.

Gabriel kept his eyes on him, only glancing at Bobby for a brief second. The Bobby-copy was standing behind him casually in the door-way, and now that Sam knew that it wasn't the real hunter he noticed all the tell-tale signs. How it leaned against the doorframe in a manner Bobby would never hold himself for example and how his eyes missed the usual warmth he saw there, maybe he would've noticed this earlier if he didn't have a ten-hour drive behind him. Or maybe the thing only now dropped the act that everyone in the room knew that he was a fake.

'Sam, Sam, Sam…' Gabriel shook his head. 'Just when I thought that we were finally starting to get along.'

'I'm gonna stop you! Whatever it is you're planning, I will stop it you son of a bitch.'

'First of all, do you really want to talk about my Dad that way? And second… no you won't.'

Sam hated the confident way Gabriel was talking, the exact thing that irritated him the previous day, that cocky, self-sure way he was acting and talking. All archangels acted like they knew everything, but Gabriel's arrogance was different and Sam knew why he hated it that much more. It wasn't like Michael and Lucifer making speeches about how everything will be the way they thought it had to play out. No, Gabriel seemed like someone who was confident because they were prepared. And just the fact that he got to Bobby and now had Sam trapped too immediately the second they came close to the truth, long before they had the chance to tell or warn anybody seemed to be a proof of that. He wasn't confident because he thought himself to be superior, but because he definitely had a really good and secure plan. It worried Sam, because that was way more dangerous than the blind faith in one's own abilities.

'And how do you plan on hiding all this from Dean?' he asked, because he was worried for his brother more than ever, and he had no idea actually how dangerous things were for him. He didn't know whether Gabriel would actually harm his brother or not. 'You won't fool him with some copy' Sam said gesturing at the thing that looked like Bobby.

And how Gabriel only smiled made Sam even more worried.

'Luckily' the archangel continued. 'I only need you to stay put and out of the way for another few days tops. And trust me when I say that's easily manageable.' Sam didn't open his mouth again just kept glaring at the angel, his mind racing, trying to form a plan, any plan.

'Coyote' Gabriel said then and the fake Bobby grunted. 'Call everyone; let's make this place base camp for now. I wanna keep an eye on these two.'

'Sure thing' the fake Bobby, Coyote answered.

'And I want warding magic around the property and the house. I'm not a fan of surprise guests. Ask Raven to help you with it.'

'On it' Coyote said with a mock two-finger salute then he left. Sam followed with his eyes as he disappeared; he only noticed a second later that Gabriel was walking towards him. He wanted to evade him, but the angel was too quick and he grabbed one of his arms in an iron-grip, Sam tried to twist away and free himself, but of course he couldn't

'Yeah, just keep struggling if you want your arm to break' Gabriel scoffed at him, but he let go of Sam the next second. 'I'll be borrowing this' he said as he held up Sam's cell phone. The hunter immediately cursed himself. He should've called Dean the second he was locked in.

'What are you gonna do?' Sam asked him, and Gabriel actually rolled his eyes dramatically.

'Really?' he asked. 'You honestly expect me to hold a grand-speech á la comic villain about all my magnificent plans?' he raised an eyebrow. 'This isn't _The Middleman_, bucko' he said then he turned around to walk out of the Panic Room.

'Enjoy your stay gentlemen' he said before the door slammed shut and the locks clicked back into their places.

Sam groaned as he looked around in the Panic Room again, he couldn't actually be happy about being right in their current situation.

xxx

Part Three

The "few days tops" as Gabriel so kindly labeled it turned out to be four days. And food might've always appeared out of thin air, and the hunters reluctantly ate it, after all if Gabriel wanted them dead they would be dead already, he could kill both of them with a snap of his fingers or a wave of his hand, but he didn't.

No one actually came down during those days, but they always heard some walking and talking from somewhere above them, even loud laughter on one memorable occasion. Bobby grumbled about some damn monsters taking over his house and Sam could understand his sentiment, because they were locked in and they could do nothing about what was going on right above their heads. Sam was seriously considering that he might hate Gabriel more than any of the other archangels, including Lucifer. Bobby told him that Loki was the devil-character in Norse mythology, and that didn't really make Sam feel any better.

On the fifth day however everything went silent. There were no footsteps, no exchanged words, nothing. Both Sam and Bobby were trying to hear even some small noise, but an hour went by and it was still silent.

Then suddenly they heard someone coming down the stairs and the Panic Room door was yanked open. Sam's eyes widened when he noticed who opened the door.

'Rufus?' he asked.

'Now you two look like shit' the hunter commented. Sam was sure that it was true, he for example would've done a lot for a shower and a chance to shave, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

'Is that really you?'

'I doubt that any members of the monster party would let you go' he answered.

'How did you know we were here?' Sam asked.

'I sent him a message before I tried to call you' Bobby said.

'And you didn't think you should mention it?'

'Why? So one of my unwelcomed guests could overhear it, Rufus would've landed here with us.'

'I wouldn't be so sure of that' Rufus disagreed as he turned around and started to walk out. Sam and Bobby followed.

The house looked exactly as it did before they ended up in the Panic Room, Sam would've expected to find a bigger chaos.

'Where are they?' he asked Rufus.

'Don't know' he answered. 'Yesterday there were a whole lot of them, walking around in the yard and the house, looked like humans mostly, then today as the sun rose they were gone, no sign of 'em.'

'Did you see Gabriel around?' Sam asked.

'Who the hell is Gabriel?' Rufus asked in return.

'Not important' Bobby interrupted. 'Whatever it was they were doin' they're obviously done with it, so we might want to figure it out what it was and soon.' Bobby immediately headed to his study, Sam and Rufus followed.

'Shit!' Sam exclaimed. 'Dean!' he turned around and went to the kitchen to use the phone. He dialed and waited.

"_This is Dean, you know what to do._" Came the voicemail and Sam hung up, not sure if a voicemail would reach his brother, if he could reach him at all, he didn't dare to think of any worst case scenarios just yet.

"_This is Dean's other phone, just leave a massage_" was what he heard as he dialed the second number that belonged to his brother. His heart was beating in his chest so vehemently that he was almost concerned that he would pop an artery at any second. His fingers were practically shaking when he dialed the third number. It rang, once… twice.

'Yeah?' came Dean's voice from the other end and Sam breathed in relief.

'Dean' he spoke.

'Oh, hey Sammy' his brother's voice was calm and easy, almost cheerful so no matter what happened either it wasn't big enough for Dean to know, nothing happened yet or just Gabriel managed to keep his brother in the dark.

'Is… Gabriel with you?' he asked, because if the answer was yes they were in big trouble.

'No' Dean sounded confused. 'Why? You sound weird.' Sam was relaxed about the new information, but almost laughed he was so damn tired.

'Yeah I do, you wanna know why Dean? Because your fucking boyfriend just kept me and Bobby locked up for almost a week!' it was hard to keep his voice even. There was a heavy silence from the other side of the line.

'What?' Dean asked.

'You heard me right' Sam answered.

'What do you mean he kept you locked up?' he asked and Sam was really getting angry if he needed to spell it out for him, but he also understood while he wanted Sam to be crystal clear.

'As in we were both tossed into Bobby's Panic Room and he locked the doors from the outside' and Dean was silent, as expected.

'Why would he do that?' Dean asked then and his voice was hard, even, like he tried to keep all emotions out of his voice and this was exactly what Sam tried to protect Dean from, this moment were everything fell apart.

'I noticed that something was off about the cases Gabriel helped us with, so Bobby did some research, and I was right. He locked in Bobby when he figured it out and me when I came here.'

'Figure out what?' Dean asked.

'I would be better if we could meet' Sam answered. 'Where are you?'

'Blue Earth, Minnesota' Dean answered after a beat of silence. It was not far from where Sam told him the "case" was a few days ago, when they split up.

'Ok, I'm gonna meet you there, but Dean… don't call him.'

'Sam… it's maybe-'

'Dean, no! If you don't want to believe me, fine! Maybe you will believe Bobby, but man please, I'm begging you don't call him, don't tell him that we talked or anything. Please, trust me' Sam pleaded, once again there was a long silence from the other line, he could only hear Dean's breathing as his brother was obviously thinking.

'Fine' he said finally. 'But you're gonna tell me everything as soon as you get here.'

Sam breathed out in relief again.

'We will' Sam promised then he hung up.

Bobby told him that all the research he did was gone. The map where he marked all the towns involved, the newspaper articles, all police records and notes he made. Sam cursed as without those he doubted Dean would be so easily convinced, but Bobby remembered the towns names at least so he could draw out the symbol they formed while they headed towards Dean's location.

It was only a three hour drive, but Sam's nerves were on edge the entire time, he knew he wouldn't relax until he saw his brother. Bobby was busy with marking the map and trying to remember the details about the research he did on the way, Sam rode shotgun in Rufus' truck.

'And so… you were trapped, why didn't you call that angel buddy of yours?' he asked, and Sam huffed out in annoyance.

'Well, he either couldn't hear me or he didn't want to hear me' Sam answered. 'But he obviously didn't show up.' Sam thought about it, since he had nothing to do in the last days besides thinking. And there was no way for him to know whether Gabriel made it impossible for Sam to be heard or Castiel was simply standing with his brother. He didn't dare call him since they were out of the Panic Room in case the letter was true. He also feared the possibility that Castiel was gone, or trapped as Sam himself was so he wouldn't get in the way, but again Sam had no way of knowing, he took the safer path and didn't utter the angel's name again.

xxx

They met Dean outside of town on road 169. He was standing outside leaning next to the Impala when Rufus truck stopped. He seemed surprised to see Rufus and he also looked at Sam's face particularly. And yes, it's not like he actually had time to shave.

'Okay, so he's up in Heaven with Cas' Dean said. 'He won't come unless I call him, so… explain me what the hell is going on?' Dean said and the way he looked so utterly skeptical at Sam the younger Winchester figured it would be better if Bobby gave him the headlines. They didn't have time to explain things for hours after all and Dean was probably more willing to take in Bobby's words without complaining. After all Sam did call wolf too many times so he could get why Dean was weary to believe what Sam might say about the archangel.

It was still painfully obvious how much Dean hated it. How he tried to see things as anything else as they looked like, but there was nothing to do with facts.

Bobby explained how the three towns Sam noticed were just the starting point. How there were six others, all with the same pattern, there were missing or dead people, the signs of supernatural presence, then heavy storms before everything went back to normal. It wouldn't have been something to draw attention, if it wasn't for Sam noticing the first triangle, looking at what happened in those town Bobby knew what to look for and how the events played out all lasting for the same amount of time, and how the locations in the end added up a symbol that could not have been a coincidence.

He laid out the map in the hood of the Impala where he drew up the hexagon. It was enormous, covering up almost completely North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, half of Kansas and Missouri and a part of Illinois too. Dean was looking at the map with a frown on his face as Bobby explained how two focus points were still missing from the symbol. He wasn't able to do any research in the last days, but he was almost sure that one from the two was not finished yet, two points that were the middle of the two main triangles.

'And with like all symbols, until every detail is in place it's nothing but pretty, holds no power' Bobby finished.

'What are the last two locations?' Sam asked.

'One is Greys Lake, Missouri' Bobby said. 'And the other is the Devils Lake near Elizabeth, Minnesota.'

'Yeah the second sounds just theatrical enough' Sam commented.

'And fitting' Rufus said.

'He's not the Devil' Dean said in a low tone.

'Just his little brother' Sam murmured.

'Like every fucking angel in Heaven' Dean said angrily.

'Well not every fucking angel is doing magic with a nine state huge symbol, Dean' Sam told him.

'Fine dammit!' Dean growled. 'We can go to the fucking Devils Lake, while Bobby and Rufus check out the other one!' he grumbled as he walked to the driver's side of the Impala and got in, almost slamming the door.

'Go easy on him' Bobby warned Sam before he and Rufus walked off to the truck to head down to Missouri. And Sam really didn't have the urge to lecture his brother, so he just got in and allowed Dean to start driving with music blaring almost at full volume in the car and he didn't say a word.

xxx

They only stopped once so Sam could eat something, otherwise they made the five hour drive in one go. Sam couldn't really get his brother to talk, but other than looking angry Dean didn't do anything. Most importantly he didn't call Gabriel to demand explanations, which was good in Sam's book, since he was convinced that they would be utterly screwed if the archangel showed up.

The bank of the lake was mostly woods, endless dark green pines on the south side only with a few areas that were free of trees.

'Maybe, it's not a bad thing… you thought of that?' Dean asked as he stopped the engine, it was slowly ticking as it cooled down. Sam just looked at him before he got out. It was astonishing that his brother was still looking for excuses to justify Gabriel's actions. But Sam knew that it was only the last attempts. The way Dean enveloped himself in silence was a sure sign that he was starting to get what was really going on, not like Sam didn't expect him to get more emotional about the whole thing later.

Sam walked to the trunk and Dean followed. His brother didn't say anything when he grabbed the jug of holy oil, but he caught Sam's wrist when he reached for an angel blade.

'Dean' he wanted to make his brother understand.

'Just… no Sam' Dean said and Sam put the blade back down. It was stupid, of course, but it was not like any human could successfully knife-fight an angel, and they didn't even know whether a regular blade could hurt archangels or not. Sam started to walk towards the lake, when Dean spoke again walking behind his brother.

'Maybe… it's not something that has to be stopped' he offered.

'No, Dean' Sam said with conviction, not turning back. 'Whatever this is, we have to stop it. We can't take chances.'

'Sam…' his brother said, but trailed off immediately. The younger Winchester heard how his brother took a deep breath, he thought that it was time for him to accept the truth and Sam hoped this was it. 'I really wish you haven't said that' Dean said and before Sam could turn around and ask what he meant by that he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and everything went black.

xxx

Part Four

Sam woke up really slowly; the pain in the back of his head was only a light throb and the first thing he noticed was that he couldn't move his hand, when he felt something cold bite into his skin his eyes snapped open. The sun was going down, it was only a red line at the bottom of the horizon and Sam was handcuffed to some metal bar at a look-out point on the bank of the Devils Lake. Sam tugged at the cuffs one time, but it didn't budge, nor did it look like it would.

'Sorry about that' Sam turned his head to look at his brother who was sitting in the grass right in front of him, but in a distance that Sam could definitely not reach him either with his arm, or leg. He gestured to the handcuffs that held Sam captive with a sympathetic look on his face. 'I just really don't want to fight you y'kow.'

Sam held eye-contact for long moments as he managed to get his brain to clear out completely.

'Dean… what… no' he realized. 'No… c'mon man… you can't… you can't possibly side with him!' his voice rose as dread wrapped around him, because this just couldn't be happening. 'This is crazy! Dean! Let me go! We have to stop this!' he pleaded.

'There's nothing to stop now, Sammy' Dean answered, he still was rather calm even if he did look like the situation was not something he liked one bit. 'You were out for quite a while so I'm already done with the last focus.'

Sam could feel as the blood rushed out of his face and he might've to sit down if he wasn't already on the ground.

'What?' he asked and his voice broke on the one word. 'What did you do?' he asked.

'Gabriel's otherwise occupied so I had to open the last door myself instead of him' was the answer Dean gave, then he ran his fingers through his short hair. 'It really would've been better if you just stayed put for another day, we could've avoided all this family drama.'

'Door?' Sam asked instead.

'Yeah, I mean I already saw all the research Bobby did, and the way he explained it today showed that he did an awesome research, like always. He really only missed some minor details… well and the actual meaning of it of course.'

Sam let those words sink in before he opened his mouth again.

'How long did you know about all this?' he asked finally. Dean looked at him for a moment.

'Gabriel told me everything two days after the case in La Crosse' the older Winchester brother replied.

'So you knew… for weeks?' Sam asked and his pulse was starting to rise as anger bubbled up from within him. 'You knew he locked Bobby in… he locked me in?' he demanded.

'I knew' Dean answered.

'How could you do this?' Sam asked. 'I mean what the hell, Dean?'

'He didn't hurt either of you' Dean said.

'Oh right! I'm sorry, it's totally ok then!' Sam snapped. 'Dean! Do you see what you're doing here? How can you-'

'I'm tired of arguing and explaining myself, Sam. Everything is already done and over with. It's not something that needed to be done.' And he said those words with such conviction that it downright scared Sam.

'And what about all the people who died for all this, huh?' Sam asked. 'The victims in the towns? You really just gonna let Gabriel get away with it? They are what? Collateral?'

'Gabriel didn't kill those people' Dean told him.

'But he let it happen, right?' Sam said, because it had to be the truth. 'You won't convince me he's innocent.'

'I'm not trying to convince you of anything' Dean told him. 'And trust me, I know that not every part of this was squeaky clean' he huffed out something that sounded like a laugh to Sam's ear. 'Not by a long shot.'

'But you still went through with it' Sam concluded.

'I still did' Dean answered.

'Why?' it was the one question that he had to ask, but wasn't sure he would get an answer to. Dean looked away to the horizon as the last traces of sunlight disappeared, the sky darkening and light giving room away to darkness.

'I told you I'm tired of explaining myself' was all Dean said.

Sam's next words died on his lips as it seemed like the grass caught fire behind Dean. Blue flames erupted out of thin air, first light-blue like a Bunsen burner, but getting darker and darker. Dean just looked over his shoulder and didn't seem concerned by the large fire behind him and even the Impala.

Dean stood up, when the flames divided and a tall man in a dark coat walked through them.

'Hello, Dean' the dark man greeted and Sam just stared at his brother with wide eyes.

'Well, here's my ride' Dean said as he reached into his jacket's pocket. A second later he tossed a phone at Sam. Sam's cell, the one Gabriel took away.

'Call Bobby, he'll pick you up, he's already on his way here' Dean said as he turned around to walk towards the dark man standing in the flames.

'Dean!' Sam shouted after him, but the older Winchester didn't turn back. 'Dean!' Sam shouted again, trying to pull on the handcuffs without any success, it just bit into his skin painfully. 'No! Dean, stop! Don't do this!' but no word seemed to make him stop and Sam just watched as the dark man turned around to walk back into the flames and Dean followed him without hesitation.

Sam shouted after him tugging at the cold handcuffs until the flames disappeared. The dark man was gone, along with Dean and even the Impala. The lakeside was once again dark, quiet and cold and Sam just stared where his brother walked out of this world leaving him there, alone.

End of Story Seven


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